12/26/2023 0 Comments All about tanning rabbit hides![]() ![]() ![]() It is hard to learn the subtleties of a process from books! Or possibly even audio for that matter…. In regards to how much a teacher helped fastforward the learning process? “The move from cardboard, solid, things to luscious soft buckskin was instant”. Jessie first attempted tanning a roadkill rabbit hide and it turned out as a “crunchy papery thing”, from there she moved to buckskin and it turned out “like a big bit of cardboard.” Very reminiscent of my first hides! □ So when I saw her post on instagram about a rabbit tanning workshop she was holding I reached out to see if she would be gracious enough to come on and talk us through the process. This weeks episode with Jessie Watson Brown from the Oak and Smoke Tannery covers vegetable tanning small furs! I’ve seen a number of people bark tanning fish skins, some folks bark tanning hair off hides (think “normal” leather) but I don’t personally know anyone who bark tans furs. I turn out a serviceable buckskin, but when I leave the hair on they always turn out a little on the stiff side. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had somewhat mediocre luck with brain tanning furs. You can also use this method for deerhides, but again, you won`t be tanning them, just curing them.Bark Tanned Rabbit Furs– Photo courtesy .uk Fur Tanning Leave for about three to four days before rinsing and oiling, then working. If you don`t want to use a tank, you can mix the alum and salt mix with flour to make a paste you can slather onto the flesh side of the pelt, pretty thickly. Rinse well in plenty of clean water then tack onto a board and oil using pelt oil or neatsfoot oil (try to get just neatsfoot oil, not the compound if you can) and when barely damp, take off the board and work soft with your hands. Add the two mixes together and soak the rabbit skins in this for around three days. To process the bunny skins with alum, put a pound of alum into a gallon of water, in a seperate container add very slowly and carefully 4ounces of washing soda crystals and half a pound of salt. (black tea of course has tannin in it) but the softness is almost entirely down to how much you work the pelt soft with your hands. ![]() Using salt alone would only dry out the hide, it doesn`t cure or tan it.Īt a push, you can use ultra strong tea to tan the rabbit skins.I haven`t done it but know someone who has and it worked out fine. You can get away with using alum, but it is only a cure, not a tan, so if there`s any chance at all of your hides getting damp in the future I really recommend tanning instead. Or you can hold the hide and rub it repeatedly over a rounded chair back til soft and supple. This loosens it up on the frame but I just tighten the strings and let it dry. The bigger hides, well, after I`ve tanned and oiled mine, they are strung onto frames, where I use a semi circular shaped tool (you can make a wooden one or buy one of half moon gardening tools and add a wooden handle about elbow length) by rubbing the hide again when touch dry, still a bit damp, and putting some elbow grease and weight into it. This can be easily done with the rabbit skins by working them, when damp, using just your hands, keep rolling them up, pulling gently (rabbit is thin and tears easily) and wringing in your hands. You can use Lutan Fn, which gives a white, pliable finish, or K-Tan, which is a chrome tan and despite it`s unpopularity, is an easy brush on system and ideal for your bigger hides for making rugs.īut the tanning alone won`t get them soft, you have to work them. Try looking at STS (Snowdonia Taxidermy Services) and JHT, both based in Wales. ![]() If you take a look on Ebay, you can buy the chemicals/kits for tanning at home, they come with full instructions and are pretty foolproof. ![]()
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